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Blown Away In Buxton: Day 2 At ESA Easterns

35°16’N 75°33’W
Day 2 at ESA Easterns graced us with similar surf from the day before, as well as some solid NE wind and rain. We’ll surely be seeing more of that later this week as the newest nor’easter begins filling in over night tonight with 35+mph winds and rain. On the bright side, all this weather is also going to generate some sizable swell.

The scene at ESA Easterns. Photos: Ryan Brower

After waking up this morning with a country cookin’ hangover (those beers didn’t help much either) we proceeded to get on the waist to chest high surf that provided us with some fun lefts running down the beach.

Today’s rain and wind was a fruitless attempt at causing a setback for Easterns. The ESA has dealt with scenarios like this before and has it on lockdown. And since the adult divisions ran again today, it was easy to continue competition at the Lighthouse, as opposed to sending the Menehunes out and losing a few of them in the process.

Masters Longboard making the paddle out.

The foundation has been laid for all the adult division Finals, which are set to run throughout the day tomorrow and will conclude with the awards ceremony at the end of competition.

The big question on everyone’s mind though is will the competition be held at the National Park again, or will nor’easter conditions force the ESA to move things further south to the more NE wind-friendly beaches around the elbow?

This kid’s just trying to not get blown into the Atlantic.

The ESA is keeping tabs on the developing nor’easter via NOAA and windsurf.com, and if they have to, they will move competition to the cove-like break of Ramp 55 in Hatteras, which is across from Ocracoke Ferry and presents protected surf, as opposed to the open sandbars at the Lighthouse.
According to ESA Executive Director Debbie Hodges, “The ESA, in conjunction with the National Park Service, wants to make the best decision for the athlete competitors, especially for the kids who will be the ones competing throughout the rest of this week. We don’t want to put the athletes, families, district directors, board executives, spectators, or anyone in harms way. The decision to move the contest site will be made within next the 24 hours.”

Baton down the hatches, there’s a storm a comin’.

With that, we’re gearing up for the Easterns to really get going with the youth divisions this week—no matter where the contest is held.

For the latest on ESA Easterns check out surfesa.org or stay tuned to transworldsurf.com for any developments. – Ryan Brower